The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Russo-Japanese War : A Study of Britain's Assistance toward Japan in the War

Abstract

The article aims to explain the seemingly contradictory or inconsistent assistance policy of Britain toward Japan during the Russo-Japanese War(1904~5). The British government under the Prime Minister Arthur J. Balfour declared a “strict neutrality” when the war broke out. Under this official position, the British government firmly rejected repeated aid requests by Japan, with which Britain formed its first security alliance in 1902. On the other hand, however, Japan received diverse assistance at a significant level from Britain in indirect manners. They included British naval support to check Russian fleet movements, financial arrangements to help financing Japan"s war expenditure, and various diplomatic support activities on behalf of Japan in the world.<BR> Existing researches provide partial answers to the question why Britain did not actively support Japan, its formal ally from the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty of 1902, in the war. But there is little explanation about the source of those sizable unofficial assistance provided to Japan by British navy, financial leaders, and diplomats in the midst of the Britain"s official position of strict neutrality. Therefore, the whole picture of Britain"s assistance to Japan with the latter"s war efforts is one of contradiction, inconsistency, or duplicity.<BR> This article tries to find a convincing explanation of how this happened. Reviewing research materials dealing with the British policy toward Japan at the time of the Russo-Japanese War, the research has reached a conclusion that it was largely a result of divisions among the leaders of the Conservative government under Balfour in Britain. The division centered on the direction of British global security strategy. And, as an extension of the differing views of the strategy, the leaders of the Balfour government advocated different policies toward Japan in the Russo-Japanese War. This was the main source of the seemingly contradictory and inconsistent assistance policy of Britain toward Japan.